4x4 emergency volunteers have vehicle stolen

Have you seen West Yorkshire 4x4 Volunteers member Mick Neddham's Vauxhall Frontera (pictured). It was stolen in the early hours of Wednesday morning (January 17) at Odsal

Published:15:21Updated:15:37Wednesday 17 January 2018

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West Yorkshire 4x4 Volunteers, who were out helping drivers stuck in the snow and ice yesterday night have also issued an appeal after one of its members had his vehicle stolen while he was out at work.

The Cleckheaton based volunteers began in 2011, have members across West Yorkshire and offer assistance as required by the user services, principally Category 1 and Category 2 responders, such as Police, Ambulance, Doctors and Local Authorities via the Local Resilience Forums set up by the Civil Contingencies Act (2004).

This is often in extraordinary circumstances or extremes of weather, such as heavy snow or flooding and volunteers became familiar to Calderdale residents with the sterling work they did around the Boxing Day 2015 floods.

When the snow hit on Tuesday, January 16, volunteer members were called into action by user services around 6.30pm, said a group spokeswoman.

“We have been working throughout the night ensure that everyone can get into work and give the vital support such as health care professionals. Also a few of our members, after finishing their jobs, helped people who were stuck in Denholme when their vehicle was unable to get going again,” she said.

“We are always wanting to increase our number of volunteers - anyone can help even if they don’t own a 4x4. We have many things which we need support on such as fundraising throughout the year, working with Kirkwood Hospice giving them support during their events and much more.

“When the weather starts to change and the snow starts to fall we look for 4x4 drivers to offer their own time to help the community. As we work throughout the snow period we also need controllers to work within our control team to ensure that we can run smoothly,” she said.

However, in the early hours of Wednesday morning while he was at work member Mick Needham had his 4x4 vehicle stolen from Odsal, Bradford, and he and the team are asking people across North Kirklees, Bradfod and Calderdale to keep an eye open for it and inform the group if it is seen.

While Mick is without his Vauxhall Frontera (Mick’s 4x4 is pictured) he is unable to help in precisely the circumstances group volunteers were aiding user services last night.

The group can be contacted through Facebook page West Yorkshire 4x4 volunteers or via its website http://www.wy4x4vol.org

West Yorkshire 4x4 Volunteers also attend shows and local events to raise the awareness of the group, what it does and ensuring good relationships with the groups and organisations members volunteer their time for.